'Quebec French' (''le français québécois'', ''le français du Québec''), or less often '
Québécois French', is the dominant and most prevalent regional
variety of the
French language, in its
formal and informal registers, found in
Canada.
''Canadian French'' is a frequently used umbrella term for Quebec French and varieties found in Ontario and Western Canada, but not
Acadian French. The latter is a distinct dialect of French spoken in
Atlantic Canada. Thus, the term ''Canadian French'' is usually understood to exclude Acadian French, and generally refers to the varieties of French used in Quebec and all provinces west of Quebec as well as in some New England communities. The term ''
joual'' is occasionally used to describe the
basilect working-class slang of Montreal.
[1]
As the area (and peoples) to which "Canada" refers has changed, so too has Quebec French
sprachraum. Whereas the majority of those who speak Canadian French live in the province of
Quebec, Canadian French is also used by sizable
francophone minorities in northern, eastern and southern
Ontario, as well as by smaller French-speaking communities in the
Canadian Prairies and in northern
New England. Jack Kerouac for example spoke Canadian French as his first language. There are also scattered speakers in significant numbers throughout Canada.
History
Main articles: History of Quebec French
Canadian French is not derived, as is sometimes misstated, from
Old French – a much earlier ancestor that spanned the 11th to 14th centuries and, in many ways, resembled
Latin. The origins of Canadian French actually lie in the
17th and
18th century regional varieties of early
'Modern' French, also known as Classical French, and of other
Oïl languages (
Norman,
Picard, etc.) that French colonists brought to
New France. Canadian French evolved from this language base and was shaped by the following influences (arranged according to historical period):
New France
Unlike the language of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, French in New France was fairly unified (see Barbeau's book below). It also began to borrow words, especially
place names such as "", "
Canada" and "
Hochelaga", and words to describe the flora and fauna such as "atoca" and "achigan" from
Amerindian languages due to contacts with
First Nations peoples.
The importance of the rivers and ocean as the main routes of transportation also left its imprint on Canadian French. Whereas standard French uses the verbs "monter" and "descendre" to get in and out of an automobile, Canadians tend to use "embarquer" and "débarquer", relics from their maritime heritage.
British rule
With the onset of British rule in
1760, Quebec French became isolated from European French. This led to a retention of older prononciations, such as "moé" for "moi" and expressions that later died out in France.In
1774, the
Quebec Act guaranteed French settlers as British subjects rights to
French law, the
Roman Catholic faith, and the French language. Such early yet difficult success was followed by a socio-cultural retreat, if not repression, that would later help ensure the survival of
French in Canada.
Late 19th century
After
Canadian Confederation, Quebec started to become
industrialized and thus experienced increased contact between French and English speakers. Quebec business, especially with the rest of Canada and with the United States, was conducted in English. Also, communications to and within the Canadian federal government were conducted almost exclusively in English. This period included as well a sharp rise in the number of English-speaking immigrants from what are now the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. This was particularly noticeable in Montreal, which looked like a majority anglophone city (English publicity, stores) but wasn't one. As a result, Quebec French began to borrow massively from both
American and
Canadian English to fill
lexical gaps in the fields of government, law, manufacturing, business and trade. A great number of French Canadians went to the US to seek employment. When they returned, they brought with them new words taken from their experiences in the New England textile mills and the northern lumber camps.
20th century to 1959
During
World War I, a majority of Quebec's population lived in urban areas for the first time. From the time of the war to the death of
Maurice Duplessis in 1959, the province experienced massive modernization. It is during this period that French-language radio and television broadcasting, albeit with a façade of
European pronunciation, began in Canada. While Canadian French borrowed many English-language brand names during this time, Quebec's first modern
terminological efforts bore a French
lexicon for
(ice) hockey, one of the national sports of Canada. Following
WWII, Quebec began to receive large waves of
allophone immigrants who would acquire French or English, but most commonly the latter. These immigrants would enrich the French language with their cuisine by giving us words such as "bagel" and "pizza".
1959 to 1982
From the
Quiet Revolution to the passing of
Bill 101, French in Quebec saw a period of validation in its varieties associated with the working class while the percentage of literate and university educated francophones grew. Laws concerning the status of French were passed both on the federal and provincial levels. The
Office québécois de la langue française was established to play an essential role of support in
language planning. In Ontario, the first French-language public secondary schools were built in the 1960s, but not without confrontations. Sturgeon Falls, Penetanguishene and Windsor each had its own school crisis.
1982 to present
The post-
Bill 101 period is marked by an explosion in
information and communications technologies in the 1980s and 1990s and an increased use of English by Quebec residents on both North American and global scales. Nonetheless, in Quebec the
rate of assimilation towards English was virtually eliminated. This period also marks the beginning of sizable exports of Quebec-French cultural products and Quebec-French
terminology work particularly in technical fields.
Social perception and language policy
Standardization
Although Quebec French constitutes a coherent and standard system, it has no objective norm since the very organization mandated to establish it, the ''
Office québécois de la langue française'', believes that objectively standardizing Quebec French would lead to reduced interintelligibility with other French communities around the world, linguistically isolating Quebeckers and possibly causing the extinction of the French language in the Americas.
This governmental institution has nonetheless published many dictionaries and terminological guidelines since the 1960s, effectively allowing many "canadianismes" or ''québécismes'' (French words local to Canada or Quebec) that either describe specifically North American realities or were in use before the Conquest. It also creates new, morphologically well-formed words to describe technological evolutions to which the ''
Académie française'', the equivalent body governing French language in France, is extremely slow to react. An example is the word ''courriel'' (''a contraction of courrier électronique''), the Canadian French term for e-mail, which is now widely used in France.
The resulting effect, other historical factors helping, is a negative perception of Quebec French traits by some of the Quebeckers themselves, coupled with a desire to improve their language by conforming it to the
Metropolitan French norm. This explains why most of the differences between Quebec French and Metropolitan French documented in this article are marked as "informal" or "colloquial". Those differences that are unmarked are most likely so just because they go unnoticed by most speakers.
Interintelligibility with other variations of French
Interintelligibility of formally and informally spoken Quebec French with
Metropolitan French is a matter of heated debates between linguists. If a comparison can be made, the differences between both dialects are probably larger than those between
American and
British English, but not as large as those between
standard German and
Swiss German. Francophone Canadians abroad have to modify their accent somewhat in order to be easily understood, but very few francophone Canadians are unable to communicate readily with European francophones. European pronunciation is not at all difficult for Canadians to understand; only differences in vocabulary present any problems.
Television programmes and films from Quebec often must be
subtitled for international audiences, which some Quebeckers perceive as offensive, although they themselves sometimes can hardly understand European slang. Recent increases in reciprocal exposure are slowly improving interintelligibility though, and even slang expressions have been crossing the ocean in both directions.
In general, European French speakers have no problems understanding newscasts or other moderately formal speech. However, they may have great difficulty understanding for example a
sitcom dialogue. This is due more to idioms, slang, and vocabulary than to accent or pronunciation. European French users will also have difficulty with colloquial speech of Quebeckers, for sitcom dialogue reflects everyday speech. However, when speaking to a European French speaker, a French speaker from Quebec is capable of shifting to a slightly more formal, "international" type of speech.
Quebec's culture has only recently gained exposure in Europe, especially since the
Quiet Revolution ''(Révolution tranquille)'', and the difference in dialects and culture is large enough that Quebec French speakers overwhelmingly prefer their own "home grown" television dramas or sitcoms to shows from Europe. The number of such TV shows from France shown on Quebec television is about the same as the number of British TV shows on American television: outside of obscure cable channels - essentially none at all.
Canadian French was once stigmatized, among Quebecers themselves as well as among Continental French and foreigners, as a low-class dialect, sometimes due to its use of
anglicisms, sometimes simply due to its differences from "standard" European French. Another potential factor is that in Canadian French, curse words are mosty of religious (specifically
Roman Catholic) origin, whereas in Metropolitan French, the words are more harmless; ex:French Canadians will say ''câlisse'' ('chalice') where the French would say ''merde'' ('shit'). Until
1968, it was unheard of for Canadian French vocabulary to be used in plays in the theatre. In that year the huge success of
Michel Tremblay's play ''Les Belles-Sœurs'' proved to be a turning point. Today, francophones in Quebec have much more freedom to choose a "register" in speaking, and television characters speak "real" everyday language rather than "normative" French.
Regional variation
In the informal registers of Quebec French, regional variation lies in
pronunciation and
lexis (vocabulary). The regions most commonly associated with such variation are
Montreal (esp. the
Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Borough), the
Beauce region, the
Gaspé Peninsula,
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region, and
Quebec City. It should be noted, however, that residing or having been raised in a region is not a guarantee on how a speaker of Quebec French will sound. There are many social and individual variables that also influence a person’s speech. Nonetheless, one can say that with the rise in mass media, communications, higher education levels plus increased travel and relocation among the population, instances of regional variation are on the decline.
''See
Quebec French pronunciation and
Quebec French lexicon for examples and further information.''
Overview of the relation to European French
Not simply
slang or an archaic dialect, Canadian French resemble all other regional varieties of French in two basic respects. First, as with any regional variety, Canadian French shows a range of internal variation according to
register and other social factors. Second, although all registers of Canadian French exhibit marked lexical and phonetic differences with respect to European French, formal Canadian French uses essentially the same
orthography and
grammar as Standard French, with few exceptions.
[2]
Despite the high degree of similarity in the spelling and grammar of their formal varieties, Quebec French and
French French have their own regionalisms, pronunciations and sets of
sociolects or slangs (
joual in east-end
Montreal;
verlan,
Javanais,
Louchebem, etc. in Paris).
Historically speaking, the closest relative of Canadian French is the 17th century koiné of
Paris.
[3]
Spelling and grammar
Formal language
A notable difference in grammar which received considerable attention in France during the 1990s is the feminine form of many professions, which traditionally did not have a feminine form.
[4] In Quebec, one writes nearly universally ''une chercheure'' "a researcher", whereas in France, ''un chercheur'' and, more recently, ''une chercheur'' and ''une chercheuse'', are used.
There are other, sporadic spelling differences. For example, the
Office québécois de la langue française recommends the spelling ''tofou'' for what is in France ''tofu'' "tofu". In grammar, the adjective ''inuit'' "Inuit" is invariable in France but, according to official recommendations in Quebec, has regular feminine and plural forms.
[5]
Informal language
Grammatical differences between informal spoken Quebec French and the formal language abound. Some of these, such as omission of the negative particle ''ne'', are present in the informal language of speakers of standard European French, while other features, such as use of the interrogative particle ''-tu'', are either peculiar to Quebec or Canadian French or restricted to nonstandard varieties of European French. For further information, see the sections "Syntax", "Pronouns" and "Verbs" below.
Sociolects
Quebec and European accents are readily distinguishable. Over time, European French has exerted a strong influence on Quebec French and the phonological features traditionally distinguishing informal Quebec French and formal European French have acquired varying sociolinguistic status.
Sociolinguistic studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s showed that Quebeckers generally rated speakers of European French heard in recordings higher than speakers of Quebec French in many positive traits, including expected intelligence, education, ambition, friendliness and physical strength.
[6] The researchers were surprised by the greater friendliness rating for Europeans,
[7] since one of the primary reasons usually advanced to explain the retention of low-status language varieties is social solidarity with members of one's linguistic group. François Labelle cites the efforts at that time by the Office de la langue française "to impose as French a standard as possible"
[7] as one of the reasons for the negative view Quebeckers had of their language variety.
Since the 1970s, the official position on Quebec French has shifted dramatically. An oft-cited turning point was the 1977 declaration of the Association québécoise des professeurs et professeurs de français defining thus the language to be taught in classrooms: "Standard Quebec French [''le français standard d'ici'', literally, 'the Standard French of here'] is the socially favoured variety of French which the majority of Francophone Quebecers tend to use in situations of formal communication."
[9] According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, it is doubtful that Quebecers would today still have the same negative attitudes towards their own variety of French that they did in the 1970s. They argue that negative social attitudes have focused instead on a subset of the characteristics of Quebec French relative to European French, and particularly some traits of informal Quebec French.
[10] Some characteristics of European French are even judged negatively when imitated by Quebecers.
[11]
Thus, the various phonological features traditionally distinguishing informal Quebec French from formal European French have acquired differing sociolinguistic status. For examples, see the section "Sociolinguistic status of selected phonological traits" below.
Lexis
Words inherited from France, now rare or no longer in use there
Quebec French lexical innovations
Anglicisms
One characteristic of major sociological importance distinguishing Quebec French from European French is the relatively greater number of borrowings from English, especially in the informal spoken language.
[12] However, Quebecers show a stronger aversion to the use of anglicisms in formal contexts than do European francophones, largely because of what the influence of English on their language is held to reveal about the historically superior position of anglophones in Canadian society.
[13] According to Cajolet-Laganière and Martel,
[14] out of 4,216 "criticized borrowings from English" in Quebec French that they were able to identify, some 93% have "extremely low frequency" and 60% are obsolete. However, the prevalence of anglicisms in Quebec French has often been exaggerated. French spoken with a number of anglicisms viewed as excessive may be disparagingly termed ''
franglais''. According to Chantal Bouchard,"While the language spoken in Quebec did indeed gradually accumulate borrowings from English [between 1850 and 1960], it did not change to such an extent as to justify the extraordinarily negative discourse about it between 1940 and 1960. It is instead in the loss of social position suffered by a large proportion of Francophones since the end of the 19th century that one must seek the principal source of this degrading perception."
[15]
Borrowings from Aboriginal languages
Linguistic structure
Phonology
:
Main articles: Quebec French phonology
For phonological comparisons of Quebec French,
Belgian French,
Meridional French, and
Metropolitain French, see
French phonology.
Vowels
''Systematic, i.e. in all unmonitored speech'':
★ and as phonemes distinct from and from respectively
★ , , are
lax allophones of , , in closed syllables
★ Under certain conditions,
long vowels in final (
stressed) syllables
★ Drop of
schwa
''Observable in some but not all unmonitored speech'':
★ Variants for are closed to or and is fronted into
★
Diphthongs as variants to long vowels
★ Standard French (spelled "oi") as , or as (spelled "oé")
Consonants
''Systematic'':
★ and
affricated to and before , , and their allophones ,
★ Drop of
liquids and (written as "l" and "r") in unstressed position with
schwa or unstressed position
''Observable in some but not all unmonitored speech'':
★ Trilled "r" - (a disappearing phenomenon)
For detailed information on
other topics in phonology in Quebec French, such as
prosody, see
Quebec French pronunciation.
Sociolinguistic status of selected phonological traits
The examples below are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to illustrate the complex influence European French has had on Quebec French pronunciation, and the range of sociolinguistic statuses that individual phonetic variables can possess. For the specific technical description of the features in question, see the phonology sections above or the article
Quebec French phonology.
★ The most entrenched features of Quebec pronunciation are such that their absence, even in the most formal registers, is considered an indication of foreign origin of the speaker. This is the case, for example, for the affrication of and before and .
[16] (This particular feature of Quebec French is, however, sometimes avoided when singing, though not always.)
[17]
★ The use of the lax Quebec allophones of , , (in the appropriate phonetic contexts) is compulsory in all but highly formal styles, and even there their use predominates. Use of the tense allophones where the lax ones would be expected can be perceived as "pedantic".
[18]
★ The predominant Quebec variants , and corresponding to the European , (conventionally transcribed ) and (conventionally transcribed ) are not subject to a significant negative sociolinguistic evaluation, and are used by a majority of speakers and of educated speakers in all circumstances. However, the European variants also appear occasionally in formal speech among a minority of speakers.
[19] (The preceding discussion applies to stressed syllables. For reasons unrelated to their social standing, some allophones close to the European variants appear frequently in unstressed syllables.)
★ The Quebec variant of in such words as ''espace'' clearly predominates in informal speech, and, according to Ostiguy and Tousignant, is likely not perceived negatively in informal situations. However, sociolinguistic research has shown that this is not the case in formal speech, where the traditional European standard is more common. Despite this, many speakers use systematically in all situations, and Ostiguy and Tousignant hypothesize that these speakers tend to be less educated.
[20] It must be mentioned that a third vowel , though infrequent, also occurs. This is the vowel which has emerged as a new European standard in the last several decades for words in this category.
[21] According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, this pronunciation is seen as "affected"
[22], and Dumas writes that speakers using this pronunciation "run the risk of being accused of snobbery".
[23] Entirely analogous considerations apply to the three pronunciations of such words as ''chat'', which can be pronounced , or .
[24]
★ The diphthonged variants of such words as ''père'' (''e.g.,'' instead of , much closer to the Parisian norm) are not used by most speakers in formal situations. They have been explicitly and extensively stigmatized, and were, according to the official Quebec educational curricula of 1959 and 1969, among those pronunciation habits to be "corrected" in pupils. In informal situations, most speakers use these forms to some extent. However, they are viewed negatively, and their frequency is higher among uneducated speakers.
[25]
★ Traditional pronunciations such as for ''poil'' (also , as in France; words in this category include ''avoine'', ''(ils) reçoivent,'' ''noirci,'' etc. ) and for ''moi'' (now usually , as in France; this category consists of ''moi,'' ''toi,'' and verb forms such as ''(je) bois'', ''(on) reçoit'', but excludes ''québécois'', ''toit'', etc. which have only ever had the pronunciation ) are no longer used by many speakers, and are virtually absent from formal speech.
[26] They have long been the object of condemnation.
[26] Dumas writes that the pronunciations of words in the ''moi'' category have "even become the symbol and the scapegoat of bad taste, lack of education, vulgarity, etc., no doubt because they differ quite a bit from the accepted pronunciation, which ends in , [...]"
[28] On the other hand, writing in 1987, he considers in words in the ''poil'' group "the most common pronunciation".
★ No doubt one of the most striking changes having affected Quebec French in recent decades is the displacement of the trilled ''r'' by the uvular ''r'' , originally from northern France, and similar acoustically to the Parisian velar ''r'' . Historically, the trilled ''r'' predominated in western Quebec, including Montreal, and the uvular ''r'' in eastern Quebec, including Quebec City, with an isogloss near Trois-Rivières. Elocution teachers and the clergy traditionally favoured the trilled ''r'', which was nearly universal in Montreal until the 1950s and was perceived positively. But massive immigration from eastern Quebec beginning in the 1930s with the Great Depression, participation of soldiers in the Second World War, travel to Europe after the war, and especially use of the uvular ''r'' in radio and then television broadcasts, quickly reversed perceptions and favoured the spread of the uvular ''r''. Trilled ''r'' is today in rapid decline. According to Ostiguy and Tousignant, this change has occurred within a single generation.
[29] The Parisian uvular ''r'' is also present in Quebec, and its use is positively correlated with socio-economic status.
[30]
Syntax
:
Main articles: Quebec French syntax
There are increasing differences between the
syntax used in spoken Quebec French from the syntax of other
regional dialects of French.
[31] In French-speaking Canada, however, the characteristic differences of Quebec French syntax are not considered standard despite their high-frequency in everyday, relaxed speech.
One far-reaching difference is the weakening of the syntaxic role of the
specifiers (both verbal and nominal), which results in many syntaxic changes:
★ Positioning of the subject in an isolated phrase at the beginning or end of a sentence, with pronouns often in
apposition to the noun:
::Mon frère, il est dans la police. (Mon frère est dans la police.) ''My brother works for the police.''
::Il a l'air fâché, le chien. (Le chien a l'air fâché.) ''The dog looks angry.''
★ Extensive use of
complex sentences with
main or
dependent clauses using
demonstratives:
::Mon rêve, c'est de partir en Afrique. (Mon rêve est de partir en Afrique.) ''My dream is to go to Africa.''
★
Relative clauses (1) using "''que''" as an all-purpose
relative pronoun, or (2) embedding
interrogative pronouns instead of
relative pronouns:
::(1) J'ai trouvé le document que j'ai besoin. (J'ai trouvé le document dont j'ai besoin.) ''I found / I've found the document I need.''
::(2) Je comprends ''qu'est-ce que'' tu veux dire. (Je comprends ce que tu veux dire.) ''I understand what you mean.''
★ Omission of the prepositions that
collocate with certain verbs:
::J'ai un enfant à m'occuper. (
Standard French: s'occuper 'de'; Je dois ''m'occuper d'un'' enfant.) ''I have a child (I need) to take care of.''
::Ça débouche (
Standard French: déboucher 'sur'; Ça débouche sur une rue.)
★
Plural conditioned by semantics:
::La plupart du monde sont tannés des taxes. (La plupart du monde est tannée des taxes.) ''Most people are fed up with taxes.''
★ A phenomenon throughout the Francophonie, dropping the "ne" of the double negative is accompanied, in Quebec French, by a change in word order (1), and (2)
postcliticisation of direct pronouns (3) along with non-standard
liaisons to avoid vowel
hiatus:
::(1) Donne-moi-le pas maintenant. (Ne me le donne pas maintenant.) ''Don't give it to me now''.
::(2) Dis-moi pas de m'en aller! (Ne me dis pas de m'en aller) ''Don't tell me I have to go''.
::(3) Donne-moi-z-en pas ! (Ne m'en donne pas!) ''Don't give me any!''
Other notable syntactic changes in Quebec French include the following:
★ Use of non-standard verbal
periphrasis:
::'J'étais pour' te le dire. (J'allais te le dire. / J'étais sur le point de te dire.) ''I was going/about to tell you about it.''
::'Avoir su', j'aurais... (Si j'avais su, j'aurais...) ''Had I known, I would have...''
::J''étais après travailler' quand ils sont arrivés. (J'étais en train de travailler quand ils sont arrivés.) ''I'd been working when they came.''
::'M'as' le faire. (Je vais le faire. / Je le ferai.); akin to "ahma" in
Southern American English - '''I'm a' do it. (I'm going to do it.)''
★
Particle ''-tu'' used (1) to form
tag questions (and (2) sometimes to express exclamatative sentences):
::C'est-tu prêt? (Est-ce prêt? / C'est prêt? / Est-ce que c'est prêt?) ''Is it ready?''
::On a-tu bien mangé! (Qu'est-ce qu'on a bien mangé!) ''We ate well, didn't we?''
:This particle is ''-ti'' in most varieties of North American French outside Quebec as well as in European varieties of ''français populaire'' as already noted by Gaston Paris.
[32] It is also found in the none-creole speech on the island of
Saint-Barthelemy in the
Caribbean.
★ Extensive use of
litotes:
::C'est pas chaud! (C'est frais!) ''It's not all too warm out!''
::C'est pas laid pantoute! (Ce n'est pas laid du tout!) ''Isn't this nice!'' (literally: ''This is not ugly at all).''
However, these features are common to all the basilectal varieties of varieties of ''français populaire'' descended from the 17th century koiné of Paris.
Pronouns
In daily use, Quebec French speakers usually use a substantially different set of
subjective pronouns in the
nominative case than those traditionally used in standardized French:
::je/ tu/ y [i], a/ on/ vous/ y [i] (instead of je/ tu/ il, elle/ nous/ vous/ il(s), elle(s))
:::with [a] --> [?] when used with the verb and copula ''être''
★ In common with the rest of the
Francophonie, there is a shift from ''nous'' to '''on''' in all registers. In post-
Quiet Revolution Quebec, the use of informal '''tu''' has become widespread in many situations that normally call for semantically singular ''vous''. While some schools are trying to re-introduce this use of ''vous'', which is absent from most youths' speech, the shift from ''nous'' to ''on'' goes relatively unnoticed.
★ The traditional use of ''on'', in turn, is usually replaced by different use of pronouns or paraphrases, like in the rest of the
Francophonie. The second person (tu, té) is usually used by speakers when referring to experiences that can happen in one's life:
::Quand té ben tranquille chez vous, à te mêler de tes affaires ...
: Other paraphrases using ''le monde'', ''les gens'' are more employed when referring to overgeneralisations:
::Le monde aime pas voyager dans un autobus plein.
★ As in the rest of la Francophonie, the sound [l] is disappearing in ''il, ils'' among informal registers and rapid speech. More particular to Quebec is the transformation of ''elle'' to [a] and less often written ''a'' and ''è'' or 'est'' in
eye dialect. See more in
Quebec French pronunciation.
★ 'Absence of ''elles''' - For a majority of Quebec French speakers, 'elles' is not used for the 3rd person plural pronoun, at least in the
nominative case; it is replaced with the subject pronoun ''ils''[i] or the stress/tonic pronoun ''eux(-autres)''. However, 'elles' is still used in other cases (''ce sont elles qui vont payer le prix'').
★ '''-autres''' In informal registers, the stress/tonic pronouns for the plural subject pronouns have the suffix ''–autres'', pronounced /o:t/ and written ''–aut’'' in
eye dialect. ''Nous-autres'', ''vous-autres'', and ''eux-autres'' are comparable to the
Spanish forms ''nos(otros/as)'' and ''vos(otros/as)'', yet the usage and meanings are different. Note that ''elles-autres'' does not exist.
Verbs
In their syntax and
morphology, Quebec French
verbs differ very little from the verbs of other regional dialects of French, both formal and informal. The distinctive characteristics of Quebec French verbs are restricted mainly to:
★ Regularization
:1. In the
present indicative, the forms of ''aller'' (to go) are regularized as in all singular persons: ''je 'vas', tu vas, il/elle va''. Note that in
17th century French, what is today's international standard in ''je vais'' was considered substandard while ''je vas'' was the prestige form.
:2. In the
present subjunctive of ''aller'', the root is regularized as '''all-''' /al/ for all persons. Examples: ''que j''alle', que tu 'alles', qu'ils 'allent''', etc. The majority of French verbs, regardless of dialect or standardization, display the same regularization. They therefore use the same root for both the
imperfect and the present subjunctive: ''que je finisse'' vs. ''je finissais''.
:3. Colloquially, in ''haïr'' (to hate), in the
present indicative singular forms, the
hiatus is found between two different vowels instead of at the
onset of the verb's first syllable. This results in the forms: ''j'haïs'', ''tu haïs'', ''il/elle haït'', written with a
diaeresis and all pronounced with two syllables: . The "h" in these forms is silent and does not indicate a hiatus; as a result, ''je''
elides with ''haïs'' forming ''j'haïs''. All the other forms, tenses, and moods of ''haïr'' contain the same hiatus regardless of
register. However, in
Metropolitan French and in more formal Quebec French, especially in the media, the present indicative singular forms are pronounced as one syllable and written without a diaresis: ''je hais'', ''tu hais'', ''il/elle hait''.
★ Differentiation
:1. In the present indicative of both formal and informal Quebec French, ''(s')asseoir'' (to sit/seat) only uses the vowel '/wa/' in
stressed roots and '/e/' in unstressed roots: ''je m'assois, tu t'assois, il s'assoit, ils s'assoient'' but ''nous nous asseyons, vous vous asseyez''. In
Metropolitain French, stressed /wa/ and /je/ are in
free variation as are unstressed /wa/ and /e/. Note that in informal Quebec French, ''(s')asseoir'' is often said as ''(s')assire''.
:2. Quebec French has retained the '' ending for ''je/tu/il-elle/ils'' in the
imperfect (the ending is written as ''-ais, -ait, -aient''). In most other dialects, the ending is pronounced, instead, as a neutralized sound between /e/ and .
:3. Informal ''ils 'jousent''' (they play) is often heard for ''ils jouent'' and is most likely due to an old anology with ''ils cousent'' (they sew).
Vocabulary (lexis)
:''See
Quebec French lexicon for more examples and further explanation''.
The distinctive features of the Quebec French
lexis are:
★
lexical items formerly common to both France and New France and that are today unique only to Quebec French; (This includes expressions and word forms that have the same form elsewhere in
La Francophonie, yet have a different
denotation or connotation.)
★ borrowings from
Amerindian languages, esp. place names;
★ ''les sacres'' -
Quebec French profanity (see separate article);
★ many
loanwords,
calques and other borrowings from English in the 19th and 20th centuries, whether such borrowings are considered standard French or not;
★ starting in the latter half of the 20th century, an enormous store of French
neologisms (coinages) and re-introduced words via terminological work by professionals, translators, and the
OLF; some of this terminology is "exported" to the rest of la Francophonie;
★ feminized job titles and
gender-inclusive language;
★
morphological processes that have been more productive:
:1.
suffixes: ''-eux/euse, -age, -able,'' and ''-oune''
:2.
reduplication (as in the international French word ''guéguerre''): ''bibite, cacanne, gogauche'', etc.
:3. reduplication plus ''-oune'': ''chouchoune, doudoune, foufounes, gougounes, moumoune, nounoune, poupoune, toutoune''.
Linguistic relatives and neighbours
Regional varieties of French
:
★ '
Acadian French' - spoken mainly in
New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia,
Canada
:
★ '
Cajun French' - spoken in
Louisiana,
USA
:
★ '
Metropolitan French' - spoken mainly in
Metropolitan France
===
Mixed languages and
creoles formed from French (N.A. & the
Caribbean)===
:
★ '
Chiac' - (''Fr. + English'') spoken in
New Brunswick,
Canada
:
★ '
Michif' - (''Fr. +
Cree +
Ojibwe + English'') spoken in
Manitoba and
Saskatchewan,
Canada
:
★ '
Haitian Creole' - (''Fr. +
West African languages'') spoken in
Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora
:
★ '
Antillean Creole' - (''same origins as
Haitian Creole'') spoken in
Dominica,
St. Lucia, and the
DOMs of
Martinique and
Guadeloupe
:
★ '
Louisiana Creole' - (''same origins as
Haitian Creole'') spoken in
Louisiana,
USA
Notes
1. Henri Wittmann, «Le joual c'est-tu un créole?» ''La Linguistique'' 1973, 9:2.83-93.[1]
2. Martel, p. 99
3. Henri Wittmannn, "Le français de Paris dans le français des Amériques." ''Proceedings of the International Congress of Linguists'' 16.0416 (Paris, 20-25 juillet 1997). Oxford: Pergamon (CD edition). [2]
4. The Académie française has taken strong positions opposing the officialization of feminine forms in these cases. See Martel, p.109. Lionel Jospin's female cabinet ministers were the first to be referred to as "Madame ''la'' ministre" instead of "Madame ''le'' ministre", whereas this had been common practice in Canada for decades.
5. Martel, pp. 97,99
6. Ostiguy, p.27
7. L'attitude linguistique
8. L'attitude linguistique
9. Martel, p. 77. Original text: "Le français standard d'ici est la variété de français socialement valorisée que la majorité des Québécois francophones tendent à utiliser dans les situations de communication formelle.
10. Ostiguy, p. 27.
11. See for example Ostiguy, p. 68, on the perception as "pedantic" of the use of the tense allophones , , , where , , would be expected in Quebec French. "En effet, l'utilisation des voyelles tendues peut, à l'oreille d'une majorité de Québécois, avoir allure de pédanterie.
12. Martel, p. 110.
13. Martel, p.110.
14. "Le français au Québec : un standard à décrire et des usages à hierarchiser," p. 386, in Plourde
15. "Anglicisation et autodépréciation", pp.204,205, in Plourde. Original text: "En effet, si la langue parlée au Québec s'est peu à peu chargée d'emprunts à l'anglais au cours de cette période, elle ne s'est pas transformée au point de justifier le discours extraordinairement négatif qu'on tient à son sujet de 1940 à 1960. C'est bien plutôt dans le déclassement subi par une forte proportion des francophones depuis la fin du XIXe siècle qu'il faut chercher la source de cette perception dépréciative."
16. Dumas, p. 8
17. Dumas, p. 9
18. Ostiguy, p. 68
19. Ostiguy, pp. 112-114.
20. Ostiguy, pp. 75-80
21. For example, while ''The New Cassell's French dictionary'' (1962) records ''espace'' as , ''Le Nouveau Petit Robert'' (1993) gives the pronunciation .
22. Ostiguy, p. 80
23. Dumas, p. 149.
24. Ostiguy, pp. 71-75
25. Ostiguy, pp. 93-95
26. Ostiguy, p. 102
27. Ostiguy, p. 102
28. Dumas, p. 24
29. Ostiguy, pp. 162, 163
30. Ostiguy, p. 164
31. http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r21354/DISSIDENCE.pdf, as found in P.Barbaud, 1998, Dissidence du français québécois et évolution dialectale, in ''Revue québécoise de linguistique'', vol. 26, n 2, pp.107-128.
32. Gaston Paris, «''Ti'', signe de l'interrogation.» ''Romania 1887, 6.438-442.
See also
★
French language (Modern French)
★
French phonology
★
History of the French language
★
French in Canada
★
Ontarian French
★
Quebec French lexicon
★
Quebec French profanity
★
Gender-neutral language in French
★
Joual
★
Magoua
★
Gaspésie French
★
Saguenay French
★
Acadian French
External links
★
References
★
Nos façons de parler, Denis Dumas, , , Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1987, ISBN 276050445X
★
Le français québécois : Usages, standard et aménagement, Pierre Martel, Hélène Cajolet-Laganière, , , Presses de l'Université Laval, 1996, ISBN 978-2892242614
★
Le français au Québec : 400 ans d'histoire et de vie, Michel Plourde, ed., , , Éditions Fides/Publications du Québec, 2000, ISBN 2762122813
★
Le français des Amériques, Robert Fournier & Henri Wittmann, ed., , , Presses Universitaires de Trois-Rivières, 1995, ISBN 2-9802307-2-3
★
Le Choc des patois en Nouvelle-France : Essai sur l'histoire de la francisation au Canada, Philippe Barbeau, , , Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1984, ISBN 2-7605-0330-5 : research on the early development of French in New France.
★
Dictionnaire Québécois Français, Lionel Meney, , , Guérin, 1999, ISBN 2-7601-5482-3 : a comprehensive reference dictionary defining Québécois French usage for speakers of European French
★
Grammaire québécoise d'aujourd'hui: Comprendre les québécismes, Jean-Marcel Léard, , , Guérin Universitaire, 1995, ISBN 2-7601-3930-1 : a detailed analysis of some grammatical differences between France and Quebec French.
★
Les Origines du français québécois, Raymond Mougeon, Édouard Beniak, , , Québec, Les Presses de l'Université Laval, 1994, ISBN 2-7637-7354-0
★
Le français québécois: normes et usages, Luc Ostiguy, Claude Tousignant, , , Guérin Universitaire, 1993, ISBN 2-7601-3330-3 : Analysis of some particularities of pronunciations in regard to the Quebec and European norms and language registers.
★ Léandre Bergeron, ''The Québécois Dictionary'' (Toronto, James Lorimer & Co, 1982)
★
History of the French Language in Quebec
★
History of French in Quebec
★
Trésor de la langue française au Québec
★
''Grand dictionnaire terminologique'' ''(
Office québécois de la langue française)''
★
The Alternative Québécois Dictionary
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